Part 1 – Mount Paozu to Red Ribbon Base
Mount Paozu You'll start the game in your room. Before leaving, go to the PC and take out the Onigiri stored in it (restores 20 HP). Head north towards the grass, and Dr. Brief will stop you to pick your starter fighter in his lab, out of Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan (all Lvl 5). NOTE: Which starter you pick doesn't affect the difficulty much, although Goku and Vegeta end up with more evolutions than Gohan. The starter you pick will also determine which Super Saiyan God you can catch in the wild post-game, although you'll be able to unlock the other two in all their forms eventually. Once you choose a fighter, your Rival will choose a different one, and you'll battle each other. It's a straightforward punch-fest. Once you win, your fighter will level up to 6, and you'll be able to go through Route 1 to the north. Route 1 Talk to the first girl and you'll get an Onigiri. On this path, you'll find Saibamen and Bear Thieves, both at lower levels than your fighter. If you want to farm 2–3 levels here, it's best to pass through to the Aru Village Healing Center first, just so you don't have to waste your Onigiris so early. Aru Village An old man will block the path on the north end. Go into the Mart (blue building) to get Brief's Parcel. Take the Parcel back to Brief in Mount Paozu. You'll get 5 Capsules (Pokéballs) and the Scouter (the Pokédex). Head back to Aru Village. There are two possible paths to take from here. # Left to Route 22 to battle your Rival. # Up through Route 2 to the North Forest. Route 22 Partway through the upper walkway, you'll encounter your Rival with two fighters: a Bear Thief and his starter, both at Lvl 9. You should grind to Lvl 10-12 before battling him. After beating him, you can either farm or head through Route 2 if you haven't already. NOTE: If you don't beat your Rival here before going to Namek Town, his encounter here won't trigger later on. He only gives a bit of exp and money, though, so he's entirely skippable. North Forest The path here is daunting at first, but easy to remember with a map: up-right, up-left, then follow the winding path to the exit. You'll find 5 trainers here, only 1 of them being unavoidable, with a Lvl 9 Saibaman. There are some wild fighters as well. Tanbarin and Drum, being -type, are both weak against -type moves. Route 2 Both Saiyans here have same skillset and evolve to Oozaru with a Moon Stone, although Turles has the edge in total stats. Saiyan Realm Up here, you can immediately challenge the gym—the path to the right is blocked anyway until you do so. Be sure to heal up and stock any items you need. Your whole team should be over Lvl 13 since the Saiyans have "Saiyan Power", which ups their Attack and Defense and is hard to deal with at low levels. If you are going solo with your starter, it should be over Lvl 15. After that, you'll be able to go eastwards. The boy will be replaced with a Dr. Brief Aide, who'll give you Running Shoes. Route 3 Just pass through. You'll encounter a few trainers, although you can avoid half of them and the wild fighters too. Route 4 (Left Side) and Mt. Moon Cave Route 4 (Left Side) is a safe area that bridges Route 3 and Mt. Moon. You can heal here before heading in, since it's a bit of a messy route from here. Mt. Moon Cave has 3 floors: Ground, Basement 1, and Basement 2. On the ground floor, there are three ladders: left, middle, and right. You only need to go down one, but for the sake of completion you can use all three. The paths are: * Right ladder: leads you down to a Grunt. * Middle ladder: leads you to another Grunt. * Left ladder: leads you to Dragon Ball 3 and the cave exit. Route 4 (Right Side) Out from Mt. Moon, you'll find yourself on the east side of Route 4. Be sure to collect the capsule now, because you won't be able to come back here for a while. Once you take it, go to the right side and cross the curb. Namek Town Heal up first. The path below is blocked by a small tree, and the back field is blocked by a police officer. You can choose to either defeat Gym Leader Muri first, or approach Nugget Bridge to fight your Rival. You should breeze through Muri with a Lvl 25 starter. Frieza, despite being Muri's strongest, is vulnerable to -type moves, so two Punches should take him out. Your Rival will pop up a few steps before the bridge up north. He'll have Cooler as his third fighter, and he's about as difficult as Muri (since Cooler is also weak to -type moves). Beat him, and you'll get the Fame Checker. Route 24 (Nugget Bridge) and Route 25 The only thing special about this area is that there are 6 unavoidable trainer fights. On the plus side, you get a Nugget as a reward for beating the mini-boss, which sells for a hefty sum. The grass patch on the left isn't a worthwhile farming area, but you can rarely find a Slug there. You can't cross the water yet either. From Nugget Bridge, grab the upper capsule, and head right to Route 25. In Route 25, all of the trainers are actually avoidable—just cross carefully! You'll find Leon in the house, and he'll give you the SS Anne Ticket after a short sequence. Namek Town (Return) The guard blocking the east home in Namek Town will now move away, so use the shortcut behind the fence to go from Route 25 back to Namek Town. Enter the home and fight the Pilaf Grunt in the backyard. You'll get Dig when you win. The paths to the east and direct south are blocked, but there's a little hut next to the south border that'll take you underground to the Red Ribbon Base. Route 6 and Red Ribbon Base Fight a few trainers and wild Androids/Biomen. Catch a Bioman here—it'll come in handy in a few minutes. Follow the path south, heal in the Center, and talk to the first girl to get the Vs Seeker, which allows you to challenge trainers to a rematch. Then, go into the neighbouring house to get the Old Rod for fishing. It's only really useful for catching Aqua, who isn't useful except for collecting (note: as of Version 5 released mid-2017, Aqua isn't mandatory to complete the game anymore). The Gym is blocked by a small tree, so you can't enter it just yet. Route 11 Avoid the RR Cave since it's a dead end for now. The guard post at the end of this route is passable, but the path is blocked by a rock that you'll need Rock Smash to deal with. There's a hidden Crystal in the rock at the end of Route 11, though. SS Anne Head into the ship once you've healed. Most rooms have trainers to fight, and the Gentlemen on the ground floor give a lot of money. One of the rooms has a woman that'll let you rest as many times as you need (heals your fighters). The back of the floor has the kitchen, and the garbage bins here contain 3 berries. Floor 2 of the ship is more of the same—just a bunch of trainers. The garbage bin near the staircase has an item as well. Floor 3 branches out—you can take the closest staircase up to the deck (more trainers), or fight the trainers on this floor. When you're done, head towards the staircase down the hall, and your Rival will pop up once more. Beat him, and head up the stairs to the Captain. Give him a good pat on the back, and he'll give you HM01 Cut as a reward. Since it's an HM, you can use it infinitely. For now, though, just teach it to the Bioman you caught earlier. Finish up whatever you left hanging here, because the SS Anne will depart once you leave it with HM01 Cut! Red Ribbon Base (Return) Head to the Red Ribbon Gym. Defeating General Red is simple with a Lvl 25+ fighter and some items, but the real headache is getting past the puzzle. There are two electric barriers, and you have to find the two barrels with the switches and hit them in the right order. Sounds simple, but the switch locations are random and change every time you fail. That means that you'll be spending a few minutes clicking barrels aimlessly until you succeed. Once you crack the code, it's easy sailing to the Redbadge.